Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (PlayStation 2, 2003)

About this game

Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (or 首都高バトル 01 in the Japanese release) was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2003 as part of Genki's Shutokou Battle series. This entry in the series was released two years after the previous game, Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero. Much like other entries in the series, the objective is to become the fastest racer on the highways of Japan, but unlike those before it, TXR3 allows the players to race in Nagoya and Osaka instead of just Tokyo, and the Tokyo map is expanded to include the Yokohama area. In addition, this title adds a weather cycle. TXR3 includes a fully-licensed list of cars from a variety of Japanese, American, and European manufacturers instead of the old car model designation method of "Type-(technical model name)", and furthermore, the car list itself was culled of many repeat models so to simplify and reduce the number of cars. The A, B, and C car designations were also removed. Graphically speaking, Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 is a definite improvement over previous entries. Car models feature a higher polygon count and are much more extensively detailed and lighting effects were also greatly improved, featuring light streaking effects, road reflections and higher quality car reflections.